Greek community builds house
Published March 20, 2007
Melissa Tunmire and her 12-year-old daughter Bethany will soon move into a new home. After two years of fundraising, House That Greeks Built and Habitat for Humanity are using the money raised to build the Tunmire family their own house.
Hurricane Rita displaced the Tunmires, who are from Galveston, Texas. They decided to move to Columbia because Melissa's 21-year-old daughter, Brandy, attends MU and recently became a mother herself.
"Now I have a family," Melissa Tunmire said. "My family is back together."
Melissa Tunmire said she had been affected by four hurricanes in the past 12 years. It got to the point where she would no longer hang pictures up on her walls.
"I never do that anymore because I'm always the one that has to pick up and move," she said. "Now I feel like I'll be able to do that again."
She said her move could be summed up in one word: stability.
"It's everything I haven't had in the last 12 years," she said. "(I feel) like I'm living and not surviving."
Her house is being built at 2702 Norbury Drive by nearly all Greek volunteers.
Melissa and her daughter, Bethany Tunmire, will live next door to senior Brandy Tunmire until their house is completed. After Bethany and Melissa Tunmire were displaced by the storm, the two were often forced to sleep in one bed as they found shelter. Melissa Tunmire said having other family around, as well as added stability, has helped her daughter distance herself from her mother, which she was happy to see.
"She's separating from me, which is the normal sign of a pre-teen," Melissa Tunmire said. "It's all wonderful to me because that means she's becoming an individual."
She said having her daughters together has helped them to re-strengthen their bond. She said she thinks the two have developed their own language because they use unfamiliar words to describe each other.
Melissa Tunmire said she feels having her youngest daughter so close to a college campus should help her future.
"It just ups the chances that my youngest daughter is going to make it through college too," she said.
House That Greeks Built Tri-Director Danny Collins said the organization raised nearly $40,000 through donations and fundraisers during a two-year period. The money covers the entire cost of building the house, minus the land already owned by Habitat for Humanity.
Construction on the Tunmires' home started on March 1. Collins said more than 400 volunteers worked on the house, and he expects it to be finished by the end of this week.
Bill View, executive director for Show-Me Central Habitat for Humanity, said the rate of building the house is fast, considering the labor is primarily unskilled volunteers.
"I felt that the progress was amazing for such a short time," Interfraternity Council spokesman Jeff Beeson said.
View said House That Greeks Built has one of the fastest build times in the history of Show-Me Central Habitat for Humanity.
"This is the second-fastest house we've ever built," View said. "The first was primarily professional contractors. This has been a remarkably quick build."
Collins said the house appears complete from the outside, and painting and cabinet installation should be finished by spring break.
Collins said he hopes House That Greeks Built will continue to progress.
"The ultimate goal for us is to get to the point where we can build a house every year," he said.
View said he is happy with the work the organization has done.
"I certainly hope this can be an ongoing relationship," View said.
Melissa Tunmire said the work that House That Greeks Built has done makes her happy for the future.
"I think that it's just awesome that they're the future of America," she said. "You see all these movies about college kids just wanting to party, but they're kind and generous and think of people and not themselves."